[BW2 OU]Desert Rain

Hi! This is my first RMT on the Smogon Forums. I built this team for a contest created by my team, Team Sky.
I'm Italian, so please forgive me if my english is not good /:

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Building Phase:I started my building process fron ExpertBelt Landorus, and I choosed Tyranitar as its partner, because he can set the sandstorm and he nullifies the rain, very frequentely used in the actually metagame.
Then I added Momoswine and Celebi, respectively for the Therians and for rain teams, that would cause many problems to this team.
Finally I added Bronzong and Salamence. Bronzong was here to counter Gliscor and Salamence as a filler for some dragon spam.
As last step I replaced the last 3 members with respectively Shaymin, Tentacruel and Dragonite. Shaymin was chosen to kill or revenge-kill some annoying rain pokemon, like Politoed or Rotom-w; Tentacruel was chosen to spin off the rocks and the spikes and to have a rain resistor or abuser, someway; Dragonite was chosen because I noticed that the team was very weak to sunny teams, and so, the team was completed.

At a glance:

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 SAtk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Roar
- Pursuit
- Stealth RockIt is the weather setter. Most importantly, like in all of my teams, its role is to nullify the opponent's weather, setting a neutral weather for me. The set is quite classic, anything but roar, that is useful to phaze the sweepers who hope to find in tyranitar a free statup field.
SRocks are very important for this team, because they help a lot the final Landorus' sweep, in addition to the significantly damage they do to various threats like Thundurus-t or Tornadus-t, the dragons and Volcarona.
Pursuit is principally for the latwins, while Ice beam is for other dragons and for Breloom.

Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]Amazing. Many people think that he's physical, and instead...
He's very powerful, with Sheer Force released, Earth Power, for example gains a 30% base power boost, that would be: 117 base power + stab + eventually a 20% boost from the expert belt= 194 bp. Really strong, it isn't?
Aside from having a good suprise factor, he has a really good coverage, and with Focus Blast can do servere damage to ferrothorns that think to take an earthquake.
U-turn is for scouting, while hp ice is useful against dragons and breloom.

Tentacruel (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- ScaldIt frequentely saves my ass. Yes, its role is fondamentaly that, in addition to provide support to the other teammates, in particular under the rain. I preferred a defensive spread instead of a s.defensive one, because I wouldn't have anything to counter (or better resist) to threats like scizor or lucario.
Toxic preferred to toxic spikes because it's more simple for me utilizing it and I'm less afraid of rapis spinners, that would spin away my rocks too, and frequentely-used poison types like tentacruel or amoonguss that would let toxic spikes disappear. Protect is there to allow me to restore Hp with leftovers and rain dish under the rain, while scald, for obvious causes, is the only attack move, but that has a good chanche to burn my opponent.
I'm not really convinced of this pokemon, but it works.

Shaymin @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- RestThe appearance lies. Yes, thi Pokèmon, although it would seem nice and innocent, it's a really war machine.
I've chosen this set because of an advice of a friend of mine that suggested it to me in another RMT.
Seed Flare is the principal stab and it's very useful to kill all the water-typed pokèmon that I encounter on my way. The drop is quite common and the conseguent switch out of opponent's pokemon allows me to rest or predict them with another move.
Earth power is basically for fire types, in particular Heatran, that would be very annoying if used well.I'm not sure of Hp Ice, because I don't use it frequentely.
Shaymin's role is that of status absorber too, and it works as a dragonite's support.

Dragonite (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire PunchI'd need numberless words to describe this pokemon's versatility. It can play in almost all roles, but in the offensive ones it works better, sincerely lol.
It's the second sweeper, so it helps Landorus to do its job and it is my fundamental arm against sunny teams. I can boost very well, because of lum berry and it's natural bulkyness, much streghtened from multiscale.
After 2 dances it's up to destroy the entire metagame. Those few pokemon that resist it, in particular steel types, have to be afraid of its fire punch, that under the sand does normal damage, for example skarmory takes a 54% damage fron a signe +1 Fire Punch.
Outrage is the stab, of a staggering power, it's up to, at +1 boost, do ohko great part of pokemon that don't resist him. I preferred earthquake on extreme speed because it enlarges the coverage and it helps against sunny teams and jirachi or tentacruel.
Its only fault is to be weak to great part of scarfers and to priorities, in particular ice shard.

Mamoswine (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Ice Shard
- Icicle CrashReally excellent. A fondamental member of the team, a perfect revenge killer of the Therians and of the scarfed dragons, if they previously took damage from the stealth rocks. I need Earthquake for the coverage and to kill Jirachi, who hopes to take me down with iron heads, thinking it's adamant.
Superpower is basically for Ferrothorn, that is very annoying, while I need icicle crash to hit slower pokemons or to hit them whit predict.

Threats:LOrbTerrakion: it's a real trouble. It kills all and everyone, I think that it's the only pokemon that can create too much troubles fo me, but I don't know how to counter him, because I don't have any idea to how to replace anyone with gliscor, probably its best counter, but that would increase my weakness to the rain teams.DDGyarados: Moxie or without, it's quite problematical, but I can take down him with shaymin or phaze its boost with tyranitar's roar.Keldeo: if specser or life orber, I can easily wall him with tentacruel and poison it, but the great trouble is SUBCMKeldeo, that I would not have ways to kill, if not sacryfing one or two pokemons.Rotom-W: rotom-w is quite annoying too, in particular if specsed or it's used with thunder under the rain. By the way, I can take him down with Shaymin, that is faster.

I hope you appreciate my work, because translate this from italian it's a very long job. (:

It seems like you've incorporated an anti-weather core within this team without knowing it. Landorus-Sand, Tentacruel/Shaymin-Rain, and Dragonite-Sun. Very nice.

I like your use of Special Landorus, but you can use a Life Orb and still bluff a Choice Set. You get no recoil thanks to Sheer Force if you use Earth Power or Focus Blast.

I question your use of Dragonite on a sand team, but I have seen it before. You may want to bring back Salamence though, as Dragonite won't be anywhere near as bulky as it looks in your own weather. Heck, you could even use a Haxorus, which doubles as a brute under Rain.

Looking at a type chart, I noticed you have a large weakness to Ice moves (Mamoswine), Tornadus-T, Terrakion, and Dragon spamming. Tyranitar, your Hurricane resist, is KOed by Focus Blast or Superpower. Ice, you have three weaknesses and one resist, which is OHKOed by Mamoswine's Earthquake. Terrakion can just KO most of your team. You also have no Dragon resists, so Latios, Hydreigon, Salamence and such can rampage freely and switch out when Mamoswine comes in. To fix this (the Dragon, Tornadus-T, and Ice weakness), I would replace Shaymin with a Specially Defensive Jirachi. This gives you Draco Meteor protection, you can Paralyze a MoxieMence while tanking an Outrage, and it walls Tornadus-T comfortably. Shaymin doesn't seem to be doing any favors, as Dragonite/Salamence can take out all the Gastrodon and Jellicent. If you wish to leave Shaymin there for Rotom-W (although, if it's Choiced, you can predict and eliminate it with Salamence), fine, but I highly suggest you use a Jirachi.

Terrakion is a threat in general, so I would add a Scizor to your team, your pick of set, though I suggest a Specially Defensive one that isn't Choiced. This could also go in over Jirachi if you feel like Mamoswine is enough for Tornadus-T, as the onsite Trapper set can remove Latios, 2HKO MoxieMence, end Terrakion after prior damage, and soften Tornadus-T up for Mamoswine. You get double priority. It also takes care off your Ice weakness, specifically opposing Mamoswine, with Bullet Punch.

I really like your team, using some underrated mons such as Shaymin and Special Landorus to great effect. One thing I do see however, is a weakness to Sub Calm Mind Keldeo and Life Orb Terrakion, like you've said. Both of them find easy switch-ins against your team and can deal huge hits against your team, as you have little to switch in to either of them. One way to help deal with these threats is to run Toxic Spikes > Toxic on your Tentacruel. Toxic Spikes means that both of these threats will have a harder time against their team, severely limiting the number of switching opportunities both of these threats have. In combination with Life Orb and Toxic, it means that they will be quickly worn down, stopping them from causing any trouble for you. While Toxic Spikes are easily absorbed by common mons such as Toxicroak, Amoonguss and Tentacruel, all of these are dealt with by Mamoswine and Shaymin, with them gone you can easily set up Toxic Spikes.

This being a Sand team and all, your worst team matchup is against Rain Teams. You have a huge reliance on Tentacruel and Shaymin to deal with these, both of which take huge amounts from Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T, two common abusers of Rain. When your answers to Rain are down, opposing Rain Teams will have a field day with your team, easily spamming Hurricanes, Hydro Pumps and Thunders. To help with this weakness, I highly recommend you try out Chople Berry over Leftovers on Tyranitar. Chople Berry helps you to check therian forms better, especially Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T who are common users of Focus Blast and Superpower respectively. Additionally, you could also try out Rock Slide > Ice Beam on Tyranitar to further deal with the Therian Forms. The combination of Chople Berry and Rock Slide means that you have a much easier time against Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T, while they fail to OHKO Tyranitar. Losing Ice Beam really isn't that much of a drawback, with Landorus's Hidden Power [Ice], Shaymin's Hidden Power [Ice] and Mamoswine's Icicle Crash, you really will not have that much trouble against common dragons and Gliscor.

hey, cool team. on dragonite, i'd shift 4 hp evs to special defense, in order to optimize dragonite's number of stealth rock switch-ins, which is useful. i find that ferrothorn can be a problem for your team, as it walls shaymin, tentacruel and tyranitar, and can come in on dragonite's outrages. to help deal with ferrothorn, i'd try out fire blast over ice beam. this lets you roast ferrothorn and scizor (on the switch-in). it also prevents tyranitar from being completely walled by forretress, who could use tyranitar's inability to hurt it as a way to set up spikes. i am also seconding the chople berry recommendation proposed by jimbon. finally, i'd suggest leftovers over lum berry on dragonite - this prevents multiscale from being broken by the residual sand damage. i don't have much else to add - cool team, and good luck! hope i helped.

Welcome to Smogon and cool team you have here. I like your use of creative sets such as Sheer Force Landorus. Now looking at you team, Keldeo is a major threat to it. He outspeeds your entire team and can hit extremely hard with Hydro Pump and Secret Sword after a Calm Mind boost as well as packing Hidden Power Ice for Shaymin and Dragonite. Another threat to your team is Swords Dance Lucario. After a Swords Dance, Lucario hits your entire team hard with Close Combat, as well as using Extremespeed to bypass the speed of Shaymin and Landorus. For these threats, I suggest replacing Dragonite with a Substitute Dragon Dance Gyarados with a moveset of Substitute / Dragon Dance / Waterfall / Bounce. Gyarados can take any move Keldeo throws at it, save the rare HP Electric, along as long as the pony hasn't accumulated too many Calm Mind boosts, and dispatch of it with Bounce. He can switch in on Lucario, drop its attack stat with Intimidate and proceed to OHKO with Waterfall or set up DDs. Gyarados does not have the sheer immediate destructive power of Dragonite but can set up on a wide variety of threats. Oftentimes, you will be able to force your opponent out due to Intimidate, allowing you to put up a free sub and with Gyarados' bulk and great defensive typing, weaker attacks will fail to break the sub. Lastly, Waterfall and Bounce provide great coverage together.

Now for some smaller changes. I agree with Jimbon's suggestion to replace Toxic on Tentacruel with Toxic Spikes. Toxic Spikes allow you to limit the lifespan of sweepers as well as whittle away the HP of walls. Furthermore on Tentacruel, as you are not using a rain team, he will often not be getting recovery from Rain Dish. Due to this, Protect is not quite as effective on him as you won't be gaining any net recovery when using the move. In place of Protect, I suggest trying out Giga Drain which gives you a way to hit Gastrodon and Rotom-W as well as providing some recovery. On Shaymin, I suggest replacing Hidden Power Ice with Hidden Powert Fire. HP Fire gives you the ability to hit Skarmory as well as dealing massive damage to Ferrothorn and Scizor. You don't require HP Ice as much to handle Dragon types as you already have a great Dragon check in Mamoswine. On Landorus, I suggest a Life Orb instead of Expert Belt. With Sheer Force, Landorus takes no recoil damage when using Earth Power and Focus Blast due to the moves having secondary effects so you are still able to bluff a Choice item on occasion while greatly increasing damage output.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!

Set:

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I agree with what a few people have said. Dragonite has an amazing ability and you nullify it with sand, since your team is built around sand and not Dnite I suggest either your original choice, Salamence or haxorus. Personally I love haxorus but Moxiemence is a scary monster.

@thaldios: mamoswine is a problem, yes, but now I can kill him with Gyarados, so I prefer utilizing Shaymin to Jirachi, maybe later I'd change idea and test Jirachi and Scizor. Thanks for your rate!

@Jimbon, Expert Physics: I changed tyranitar's item to Chople Berry and it's very useful, but I chose to run fire blast on it, because it helps me to take down severe steel types, like skarmory or forretress or ferrothorn.

@Novaray: I'm using your Gyarados now, and it's very powerful and useful, now I can "counter" Keldeo and Lucario, and it's very powerful under the rain!
I replaced Toxic with Toxic Spikes, but I'm not really convinced. I'd do other tests and I'll see how it will be. My Tentacruel does not have substitute (x so I don't know what is the move to replace with Giga drain. Maybe you meant Protect?

Ah yes, sorry for the mistake. I was thinking Giga Drain over Protect not Substitute. Because of the passive damage from sand, Tentacruel won't be recovering HP when it protects. Although it does allow you to scout potential choice users, Giga Drain seems the better option in most cases to hit Gastrodon and other bulky waters. Again, sorry for this mistake!